Chapter Text
It has been a difficult few years. After mother and father were killed by those…… humans, me and Will had to fend for ourselves. I’ve learned how to fish for food and sell some from time to time. Just this past week a fleet of human soldiers passed by their village; they must’ve not noticed. Otherwise, we would all be dead. This brings me to the present. Eden has forced me to go foraging with her. It is quite boring, and I barely know what to grab anyways since it’s night out.
“Apo, why are you so nearby? We’ll cover more ground if you go more up north!” She barks out, pointing up the grass covered hill.
“But that human army was set-up over there, you really want me to risk my life for some plants?”
“We both know that they’re gone, just go get me some lilac. I know it grows there.” She says as she picks some more plants out of the dirt.
Reluctantly I push up the hill. She was right there was lilac at the top of the hill, but most of it was stomped into oblivion. In the distance there were more. Those damn humans, destroying our land, making me walk all the way over there. As I walked over to the patch of in-tact lilacs I saw the big pile of leaves, those damn soldiers were thoughtful enough to rake up them I guess. Is that all they’re good for? As I went to kick the cleanly stacked pile, I saw it…… a hand sticking out. We should hope the fleet was far gone because I shrieked louder than ever before. I stumbled back, Eden was close behind now.
“Apo! Apo are you okay?! What happened?!” She sputtered out, placing her hand on my shoulder.
“Eden there’s someone under that pile of leaves, what if it’s someone from the village we have to help them!” I said, pointing at the hand
“Yes, of course, help me get these leaves off!” She said, getting on her knees and quickly brushing leaves away.
I joined her and for a couple minutes I was blissfully ignorant, now I see that if the person under those leaves was actually a demon the soldiers would have left them out in the open. As leaves were gone, me and Eden saw the same man, the same human, the same soldier that must have killed hundreds of our kind at this point. If we saw the same… thing, why did Eden still want to help it?
“Oh my lord, he looks like he’s on the brink of death Apo!”
“Good, serves him right!”
“What?! Apo, we have to help him!”
“Are you kidding me?! US help HIM, he’s a human, he’s a soldier! Do you think he would help us?!”
“No, but I will not have someone's blood on my hands just because you can’t see past your hate.” She spat out heaving the soldier over her shoulder.
“After all they’ve done to us, you’re just gonna heal one right up! What if he brings that fleet back to our village! You could be the reason we all d-”
“STOP IT APO, don’t you see if we send this soldier back to the capital alive it will help us! You are so blindsided by hate you can’t see what’s actually going to help us!”
I shut up after that. We were entering the village at this point, it’s night though so no one saw us. She brought him to her basement where she has all her healing supplies and placed him on a bed in another room. The lights now illuminated the man's face. I’ve seen it before…… oh my god.
“Eden you lunatic, he's one of the army generals for district 15! Oh we’re dead, we’re dead.” I ramble off
“Apo do you really think we’re in trouble? Whoever he is, the fleet left him for dead. They knew he was close to death. Why do you think he was buried in leaves!”
“I suppose so but what happens when they go back for the body?”
“We can pour some goat’s blood, scatter some bones, make it look like the vultures got him” She was tending to him. That human would live on and it’s disgusting. “He seems to be in a comatose state. Not severe but he won’t be waking up for a good few months.” She said placing a rag on his head
“And you're just gonna let him live, even if it means the end of our village?”
“Correction, we are helping him. I can’t do this alone and while I don’t quite trust you with this, I need the help. You never know, maybe this will teach you that all humans aren’t bad.” She said, smirking at the end. This wasn’t time to joke.
“You can’t be serious. I won't do it. I won’t help the thing survive! It’s not ri-”
“I’ll pay you. I know you and Will struggle so I’ll pay you to do this. No more surviving on the possibility you catch a fish. Do we have a deal?” she said, extending her hand to me. It was hard to refuse, I assume this would come with me not telling Will, but……… we need the money.
“Deal……… only because fish is really boring after a while.” I said shaking her hand
“I don’t need your help right now but meet up with me in the morning and I’ll tell you what I want you to do.” She said, she seemed happier. How I could not tell you but I left her basement and started walking home.
The walk home was stressful. Too much time to think about what I agreed to. I mean I have to help heal a human! Ach- what was I thinking! Fish is fine! Then I was home. I just want to walk to my room and sleep but of course Will waited up for me.
“Apo you’re back! Stayed out later than I expected, how’s Eden?” He asked, a bit drowsy from lack of sleep. Eden’s crazy is what I wish I could say.
“She’s doing well. She offered me a job today.” I said, trying to hide my anger.
“Oh?! That’s great! My little brother got his first job!” He said pulling me into a hug. It’s hard to feel bad around him, he always makes the best out of things.
“Yeah, yeah, now can we go to sleep?” I asked sitting down on my bed
“Of course, can’t have you sleeping on the clock!” He joked laying down on his own bed
Sleep comes easy to me. Drifting away softly……
BOOM
I wake up startled by screams. Me and Will run out of the house to see an army of soldiers laying siege to our village, our home. Fire burns so bright you could mistake it for daylight. Then I remember…… EDEN.
Running behind houses trying to avoid the soldiers, when I see someone dragging her body out of her basement. It was that general. He killed her, she was dead…… I couldn't help but cry. Cry louder than ever before. My home was gone, my friend was gone, People I’ve known all my life were gone. Bodies littered the streets. I see the general's eyes snap towards me. I was as good as dead, but I ran anyway. Running as fast as I could, when I felt it. A sharp spear pierced through me. The sharp ungodly pain and then……
“Apo? Apo, wake up!” Will shook him
“Will you’re alive!” I shout without thinking. I hug him, tears streaming down my face.
“Apo… what happened? I can tell you had a nightmare, are you okay?” He asked still in the hug.
“The soldiers, they came back, a-and fire. Fire everywhere! And I tried to find Eden but that damn general killed her! And- and I started crying because Everything I love was gone and the general heard me and I started running but I wasn’t fast enough because he- he got me. I was dead Will!” I sobbed, sputtering it all out in a jumbled mess.
“Woah there bud, take it slow. Deep breaths, okay?” He said. After composing myself I realized I may have said too much.
“I’m fine now, thanks Will. I have to meet up with Eden around now.” I say rushing out the door before he could question me.
In truth that nightmare made me more exhausted than I was before going to sleep. It only makes me worried about how healing that human could affect us. I have to trust Eden, but that human is………ughhhh. Once at the basement door I knock. Hearing a faint “Apo is that you?” I go in.
“Yeah, what do you want me to do today?” I ask walking up to her
“Well, all night I’ve been devising a schedule for the patient, here.” She says hand me a slip of paper. It read,
9:00 am: medicine and breakfast soup
12:00 pm: lunch, soup
3:00 pm: medicine
6:00 pm: dinner: soup
8:00 pm: medicine
“It took you all night to come up with this?” I said
“Oh shush, I had to make sure it was actually possible to feed him. I have the medicine and soup here, I’ll show you how to feed it to the patient properly”
She brings me into the other room. She shows me how to feed him. The only thing on my mind is that nightmare. I have to feed, and care for a person who would, in a heartbeat, kill me. It’s disgusting, but I have to focus on the good. The good being getting paid.
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It’s been about a month and a half since I started helping Eden with that human. I don’t tell her this, but I find it very therapeutic, being able hurl insults at a human knowing they can’t do anything about it. It’s still hard feeding it though. I just try to see it as routine.
I’ve decided I want to know more about the human I’m forced to care for. Picking up old and new human newspapers when I can. From what I’ve read this guy, Owen, was absolutely ruthless. He was raised in district 15. Been forced into the army since he was a child. As he rose through the ranks anti-demon propaganda started being produced with him as their figurehead. He’s a sick bastard. It makes berating him in his sleep even more therapeutic. Still if it weren’t for how well me and Will have been with the money Eden pays me, he would be dead where he stands.
Oh wait, another important update. About 2 weeks ago an infection in both of the guy's legs got so bad that I had to help Eden amputate them. We almost lost him and for a moment I was scared. I have no idea why, but I felt almost sad when Eden told me to leave, that she would try to make sure he lived. I still think about it. How could I feel bad about a murderer dying? I didn’t feel bad when we cut off his legs. I don’t want to think about it anymore.
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It's been 2 months, and today I got my hands on a newer human newspaper. That Owen guy has been officially declared dead. That’ll be fun to explain to him if he wakes up. I should say, when, but I’m really starting to doubt. Even if he does die it doesn’t matter, does it? People have already moved on. I wish Eden realized we should too.
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I wake up, the crisp spring air. On my way to Eden’s place, I pick up some breakfast.
*Knock knock*
“Come in Apo!” I hear her say. Opening the door, I walk into the basement
“What do I have to give him today?” I ask walking up to the table full of medicine bottles
“Give him the seropine aaand here is the soup! I have to go; I have an appointment with old lady Yasmin!” she says handing me a bowl of lukewarm soup.
Hm, onion soup, not my favorite but I guess it doesn’t matter what we feed him. I walk into the room where the human sleeps and sit down next to him.
“Just me and you huh-? How's it feel? No one who cared about you even knows you’re here, I could kill you…… but I need the money. You’re real lucky Eden was with me when I found you, human bastard” I sneer, carefully pouring medicine down his throat, once the bottle is empty I pick up the soup but as I go to feed it to him, I see it.
His eyes opened